Up-and-down Packers looking to right themselves vs. Patriots

Glen Farley The Enterprise @GFarley_ent

Saturday

Nov 3, 2018 at 3:21 PM

The 6-2 Patriots entertain an inconsistent Packers team (3-3-1) at Gillette Stadium tonight.

FOXBORO – Leave it to Bill Belichick to make this 3-3-1 Green Bay Packers team Mike McCarthy will lead into Gillette Stadium on Sundaynight sound like the championship-winning teams of the Vince Lombardi era.

“They're really a good football team, do a lot of things well, very well-coached,” the Patriots' head coach said. “Coach McCarthy does a great job with this team, this organization. It’s one of the great organizations in all of sports, certainly in the National Football League. I have a ton of respect for the way they’re run, what they do, how they do it and how consistently they’ve done it.

“A lot of great players, a lot of weapons on all three sides of the ball, all three phases. They can score points, they can score in a hurry, they’re very well-balanced offensively. Defensively, they have a lot of looks, a lot to prepare for. They do a good job of pressuring the quarterback, a really good third-down team, a good coverage team on the kicking game. They cover very well, make a lot of good field position. They do a good job of creating field position in the kicking game. (They have) a big leg (with) the punter, (JK) Scott.

“I’m really impressed watching them on film,” said Belichick. “They do a lot of things well.”

To hear the Patriots' coach speak you sure wouldn’t know this is a .500 team that has won just twice in the past six games (2-3-1) and is winless (0-3) on the road this year.

McCarthy knows reality when he sees it; he’s had to watch it for seven games.

“It’s been a little bit up and down,” the Packers' head coach said. “We’ve had some tough games.”

A 29-29 tie with Minnesota in Week 2 that the Vikings forged following a questionable (at best) roughing the passer call on linebacker Clay Matthews was difficult to swallow, but perhaps none was tougher than last Sunday’s 29-27 setback to the unbeaten Los Angeles Rams, a game the Packers were still in a position to win with Aaron Rodgers about to get the ball back after Greg Zuerlein converted a 34-yard field goal with 2:05 to go.

That was when Ty Montgomery intervened by attempting to return the ensuing kickoff out of the end zone, an ill-fated decision that led to a fumble (the Rams’ Ramik Wilson forced and recovered it) and his dismissal two days later when he was traded to Baltimore in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick in 2020.

From 8-0 L.A. on one coast, the Packers now go to 6-2 New England on the other.

“We’re 3-3-1,” said Rodgers, who threw for 368 yards and two touchdowns in leading the Packers to a 26-21 victory at Lambeau Field in 2014 in what was the only start of his 14-year career against the Patriots. “We’re in a tough stretch right now. We’ve just come off an undefeated team on the road playing at a tough environment to here where obviously Tommy (Brady) and those guys have had a ton of success over the years at Gillette. It’s a tough stretch, but we’ve got an opportunity to take a big chunk of confidence if we can go up there and play our best game.”

The Patriots are an NFL-best 129-24-0 (.843) in the regular season and playoffs since they opened Gillette in 2002 (at 97-38-0, .719, the Ravens are a distant second) and come in on a roll, having won five straight overall, although last Monday night’s lackluster 25-6 victory at Buffalo certainly won’t go down as the team’s finest hour.

The Packers' struggles aside, there doesn't figure to be anything lackluster about this one: it's Brady vs. Rodgers, a matchup between two Hall of Fame-bound quarterbacks that, in and of itself, constitutes must-see TV.

“We all know what it is, we know the hype of the game, but we’re not trying to get caught up in it,” Patriots wide receiver Phillip Dorsett said. “I mean, I know the atmosphere’s going to be crazy, Gillette Stadium’s going to be rocking, so I’m just glad to be able to be a part of it.”

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